Here's a link to Dillon's breakout players article from the 2007 preseason.

Quote:

Don't rush to judge Mario Williams, last year's No. 1 overall draft pick. Sure, it would be easy to brand him as a bust based on his rookie season. But we're putting him on our defensive all-breakout team for 2007:

Mario Williams was unable to practice for more than half of the 2006 season because of plantar fasciitis. Also, the Texans moved him around a lot; he played both right and left end and moved inside on third downs. Now that he is anchored at right end, his development should accelerate. In the off-season, Williams pushed himself during running and conditioning drills by working with the linebackers, a faster group.

Amobi Okoye will probably get on a lot of breakout players list this preseason. And he should be. But, I like Jacoby Jones to breakout. He's healthy, he's more experienced, he's had a full year with the trainers. Plus, Jones is electric with the ball in his hands. Maybe more so than any other Texan. I think Jacoby will make a run at the Pro Bowl as a returner and as a starting WR by the end of the season.

Here's a link to Dillon's breakout players article from the 2007 preseason.

Amobi Okoye will probably get on a lot of breakout players list this preseason. And he should be. But, I like Jacoby Jones to breakout. He's healthy, he's more experienced, he's had a full year with the trainers. Plus, Jones is electric with the ball in his hands. Maybe more so than any other Texan. I think Jacoby will make a run at the Pro Bowl as a returner and as a starting WR by the end of the season.

That would be great, and I could see him doing some major damage as a return man if he can stay healthy. However I'm doubtful he'll supplant Davis or Walter with any sort of permanence at WR. He looked very raw at WR to me last year. Bobbled/deflected catchable passes, lackluster route running, and looked unsure once he had the ball in his hands IMO. He has great tools but he'd have to make a pretty big jump from year 1 to year 2 to be polished enough to play a large role at WR this year. It'll be interesting to watch, I hope you're right!

The only thing worse than the thousands of threads that criticized the Williams pick, are the thousands of "I told you so" posts we now have to endure.

i guess the bright side is that it means Williams worked out

(Please forgive this shameless promotion of another thread)
This is exactly why I started a thread asking folks to go on record with their second-guesses of this year's draft crop. If somebody does believe that, say, we should have taken Antoine Cason instead of Brown, then put it on the thread. If Cason turns out to be a Pro Bowler while Brown busts out, then all an "I told you so" need do is pull up that thread to demonstrate his superiority to the rest of us sloths.

On the flip side, if someone lacks the courage today to declare that a particular pick/decision was wrong, then we can safely presume he either supports completely the Texans' choices or did not know enough to question the picks. And when that poster starts crowing the "I told you so" tune down the road, we can unearth the thread and see if he really was telling us all along that the Texans made an incorrect pick.

That would be great, and I could see him doing some major damage as a return man if he can stay healthy. However I'm doubtful he'll supplant Davis or Walter with any sort of permanence at WR.

The reason I like Jones as the eventual #2 WR is that he has the look of a true WCO wideout. Davis can stretch the field as a vertical receiver. Walter can find the open spots in the zone. But, neither can do much after the catch. That should be Jacoby's strength. And taking the 7-yard slant and turning it into a big play is what the WCO is about.

Two things to remember about Jacoby is (1) he came from Division II football and (2) he was injured early in the season. Jones injury cost him reps not only in games, but in practice. And coming from Lane College, Jacoby needed a lot of reps. He'll get those in these OTAs, training camp, and preseason. Because of that, and his physical ability, I expect big things out of Jones this season.

Out of the Kubiak era drafts I can only quibble with one pick - this year's selection of Alex Brink... yeah, it was only a 7th round "flyer" ...but so was Zack Diles last year and now Diles has a shot at starting.

And, to be clear, my objection is more because we were already stuffed at QB more than anything against Brink. Weren't there any DEs we could have taken a shot at?

But like I said on draft day, I guess Kubiak likes to have a "project" QB...

If you guys remember, I was an A.B.B. guy...as in ANYBODY but Bush. I liked VY the best. No denying it...but first and foremost, I was anti-reggie. thats about as honest as my history gets. no revision from me

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Maher

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I was doing most of my posting on the hpf board at that time. But IIRC it was about the same number of Reggie Vs. Vince, Vs. Mario debaters here as there. I was against Reggie because I thought he was too one dimensional, and didn't have enough lead in his butt to go off tackle. To me he was strictly a 3rd down type of back, which is what he has proven to be. Vince was a run first type of QB, and it has been proven every time that you can't win the big one with a one dimensional QB. At the last minute the Texans decided to go with Mario even though he was somewhat inconsistant in college. Well events have shown that Mario was the real deal. Whether or not the other two are, is still to be determined. Thank goodness for Kubiak and Smith. Best thing to ever happen to the Texans.

Here's a link to Dillon's breakout players article from the 2007 preseason.

Amobi Okoye will probably get on a lot of breakout players list this preseason. And he should be. But, I like Jacoby Jones to breakout. He's healthy, he's more experienced, he's had a full year with the trainers. Plus, Jones is electric with the ball in his hands. Maybe more so than any other Texan. I think Jacoby will make a run at the Pro Bowl as a returner and as a starting WR by the end of the season.

I agree Lucky. If he puts it together he could really blow up in our offense.

His injury really set him back. he ran so fearless pre-injury, he seemed to be a little tentative after that. he looked really nice finding the seam in the preseason though and had a few moments in the regular season. the way he would burst through a seam was very reminiscent of Deion Sanders...no hesitation and quick feet with his size and skill set could make him a monster.

If he can recapture that devil may care attitude he had pre-injury, he could be a monster for us. That would be two big WRs with insane athletic ability. Couple that with possession receiver Walter and the down the field/Special Teams talent of Andre Davis, I could really see our WR corps with Daniels at TE being something special. Add the possible Split End threat of Slaton with Green and Brown in the backfield....that aint a bad unit at all. By far the most talent we have ever had on our offensive squad....hopefully Gibbs can whip this ship up into something special.

It's just so refreshing having hope and optimism going into a season...just 2 years ago we had no chance at being anything other than average...now if a few guys step up and play to their talent level, we could be really impressive.

Out of the Kubiak era drafts I can only quibble with one pick - this year's selection of Alex Brink... yeah, it was only a 7th round "flyer" ...but so was Zack Diles last year and now Diles has a shot at starting.

And, to be clear, my objection is more because we were already stuffed at QB more than anything against Brink. Weren't there any DEs we could have taken a shot at?

But like I said on draft day, I guess Kubiak likes to have a "project" QB...

hated the wasted 7th Rounder on Brink. the guy isn't a scrub and has some upside but why are they spending 7th Rounders on a QB that we don't need when we arent willing to deal our backup, Sage, for a 3rd Rounder? If your so damn high on your backup, why the hell are you drafting other QBs? Couldn't we have probably gotten him via post-draft Free Agency? I don't know. Maybe the value of having quality QB play in practice and developmental squad is hard to put a price on..i dont know. It just seems like flawed logic from a fan's point of view.

I grew up right down the street from The Sporting News in St. Louis. I was happy to hear they were pimping Mario. He deserves everything he gets because the pressure was really on the guy. Mario truly is a HIT.

hated the wasted 7th Rounder on Brink. the guy isn't a scrub and has some upside but why are they spending 7th Rounders on a QB that we don't need when we arent willing to deal our backup, Sage, for a 3rd Rounder? If your so damn high on your backup, why the hell are you drafting other QBs? Couldn't we have probably gotten him via post-draft Free Agency? I don't know. Maybe the value of having quality QB play in practice and developmental squad is hard to put a price on..i dont know. It just seems like flawed logic from a fan's point of view.

The Brink pick is about 2010, not 2008. If, in the interim, Schaub stays healthy and performs as Smithiak expects, there is no way that either Rosenfels or Gray (both of whom harbor dreams of starting) will still be around as backups. Where, then, do we go for a creditable second-stringer? We could go the rout of the established veteran on the downside of his career (e.g. Kurt Warner), but that will cost some money and we'll need to teach the old dog the new tricks of our offense. As an alternative, we could try to develop a young guy for a couple of years on the practice squad. QBs take years to develop (unless they are absolutely top-shelf talents), and we have a couple of years to work with Brink.

Only time will tell if Brink was the right guy to take, but a seventh-round draft pick is about the closest thing the NFL has to compare with the coins in the cushion of your couch. Seventh round picks who actually contribute are rare; that we hit with our last two (Anderson and Diles) has more to do with our once-dire talent level than our late-round prowess. So even if Brink bombs, a seventh round pick is about the cheapest investment a team can make. On the other hand, scoring a creditable backup (even if he takes 3 years to develop into one) with a seventh-rounder is a minor coup.

I know almost nothing about Brink other than that he was a four-year starter who tended to feast on his weaker opponents. But I am sure we had our guys studying him intently to see if was someone who could, with the proper development, play in our system. For that reason, I'm willing to wait to see what he can do.

The Brink pick is about 2010, not 2008. If, in the interim, Schaub stays healthy and performs as Smithiak expects, there is no way that either Rosenfels or Gray (both of whom harbor dreams of starting) will still be around as backups. Where, then, do we go for a creditable second-stringer? We could go the rout of the established veteran on the downside of his career (e.g. Kurt Warner), but that will cost some money and we'll need to teach the old dog the new tricks of our offense. As an alternative, we could try to develop a young guy for a couple of years on the practice squad. QBs take years to develop (unless they are absolutely top-shelf talents), and we have a couple of years to work with Brink.

Only time will tell if Brink was the right guy to take, but a seventh-round draft pick is about the closest thing the NFL has to compare with the coins in the cushion of your couch. Seventh round picks who actually contribute are rare; that we hit with our last two (Anderson and Diles) has more to do with our once-dire talent level than our late-round prowess. So even if Brink bombs, a seventh round pick is about the cheapest investment a team can make. On the other hand, scoring a creditable backup (even if he takes 3 years to develop into one) with a seventh-rounder is a minor coup.

I know almost nothing about Brink other than that he was a four-year starter who tended to feast on his weaker opponents. But I am sure we had our guys studying him intently to see if was someone who could, with the proper development, play in our system. For that reason, I'm willing to wait to see what he can do.

I wasn’t on this board for the 2006 draft; I was on some other board that I think got merged in with this one. All I know is the board I was posting on went away. I do remember the reaction at work though among the Texans fans and not a single one of them weren’t upset. Almost every one of them wanted Bush and was rabid about it saying the Texans threw away their chance at greatness. I was in the minority of folks that wanted VY, and I was already (before the signing of Mario) accepting the idea that we wouldn’t take VY so I wasn’t really that shocked, but I was still upset. I honestly felt that VY was really the man to take us to the Promised Land. I took up defending Mario at work just to have something to argue with folks about, but at the time I felt he was vastly overrated to be the number one pick in the draft. I’ve gotten a few “you were right all along” comments from some of the guys since then, but little do they know that at that time I was just defending Mario for fun and arguments sake. LOL

Oh well. History is always a better judge of today than we are. At the time the Mario pick didn’t look like the right one, now it does. Nothing new there.

I do remember the reaction at work though among the Texans fans and not a single one of them weren’t upset. Almost every one of them wanted Bush and was rabid about it saying the Texans threw away their chance at greatness.

Of course, that was the case all over town. The most casual fans were very familiar with Bush & Young. Williams was a true junior from a middle of the pack school in the ACC. A conference that doesn't get much play here. You pretty much had to be a draftnik to know who Mario Williams was, and you still may have never seen him play. If decisions were made by the fans & the media, a guy like Mario Williams would never have a chance to go #1.